Probe launched after ruling party serves fruit featuring party name at school

BARTIN - Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

The Black Sea province of Bartın's governorate has launched an administrative investigation into the teachers and administrators of Şehit Üsteğmen Aydın Aydoğmuş Elementary School, regarding fruit served in wrapping featuring the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) logo, after the incident appeared in the press.

"We will take the necessary measures after a detailed investigation on the incident," Bartın's governor, Bülent Savur, said.

The AKP women’s branch in the Black Sea province of Bartın has provoked a new debate about using children for politics after posting a photo on their Facebook site depicting them serving fruit to kindergarten children.
 
Branch head Yasemin Dora Kurtkaya said she and her companions had no "political purposes" other than to promote the consumption of local produce when they recently visited Şehit Üsteğmen Aydın Aydoğmuş Elementary School's kindergarten.
 
"We took only one photo to remember this warm visit and we published it on our Facebook page. The opposition misunderstood us, we had no political purposes," Dora Kurtkaya said.

Following the visit, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Bartın deputy Rıza Yalçınkaya and the CHP's Bartın provincial chairman, Selim Karakaş, said a probe should be launched into the school's administration for "permitting political activities in a school.”

Bartın Education Ministry Director İsa Şeker has not made any statement on the issue.